“We can’t separate the mind and body.”
These are words from Maria Perez, psychologist and Sixteenth Street director of behavioral health (BH), as quoted in Integrated medical care aims to break down wall in treating illnesses of body, mind, by Guy Boulton of the Journal Sentinel.
The article focuses on the shift to “more collaboration and better coordination of care.” Through various local experts, Boulton discusses the benefits of better coordinating behavioral health and medical care and certain models that are currently being put into place. One of the models mentioned is that of Sixteenth Street, which incorporates both the physical co-location of medical and BH services within the same building, as well as the embedding of BH providers on the clinical floor. This allows for brief interventions, further assessments and additional work on behavioral change to specifically help manage chronic diseases.
Collaborative models are the care models of the future. Nurse practitioner McFarland was quoted in the article saying it best, “One person can’t do it all…we have to do it as a team.”